Cleveland police overhaul missing persons policies

Published: April 9, 2012 3:50 PM

CLEVELAND (AP) -- An oversight committee says Cleveland police have made significant progress in a recommended overhaul of how they handle missing person and sex crime investigations.

Police have completed 22 of 26 recommendations, including creating a missing persons unit and a related website, training officers in best practices for such investigations, and expanding the city prosecutor's domestic violence division to include sex crimes. Efforts to complete the remaining four recommendations are in the works.

The recommendations came from a commission formed in 2009 to review policies following public outrage after the remains of 11 women were found at a man's home. Many of the women had been missing for weeks or months, and some had criminal records. Some victims' families believed police didn't take their disappearances seriously.